Charley Harper: Hawk Mountain 500-Piece Circular Jigsaw Puzzle

Take to the air with hawks, falcons, and other winged creatures in Charley Harper’s Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. In the 1970s and ’80s, Harper created this and nine other posters for the National Park Service, designs that gently persuade viewers to honor the natural world. Brett Harper wrote of his father: “I think he hoped that his art might nudge viewers to reflect and decide for themselves about issues such as biodiversity, sprawl, habitat loss, insecticide poisoning, climate change . . . and so on. Charley simply wanted human beings and animals to coexist.” With each of this circular puzzle’s 500 pieces, share Harper’s faith in his art as a quiet agent of change.

Charley Harper

Midcentury modernist Charley Harper (American, 1922–2007) portrayed the natural world with heart and humor. In vivid colors and simple shapes, his cardinals, ladybugs, and clever critters have become icons of wildlife art. His illustrations were published in magazines and books, notably Ford Times and The Giant Golden Book of Biology. A longtime conservationist, Harper created posters for more than 50 nature- and conservation-oriented organizations. His US National Park Service posters—massive, requiring a year each to paint—showcase delightful depictions of entire ecosystems in a style he defined as “minimal realism.” In his adopted hometown of Cincinnati, his public works are the legacy of an artist truly beguiled by the wild, one whose art was a quiet catalyst for ecological action.